


Silver Lining

by LeChatRouge673



Series: Friendship February 2018 [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: friendship february 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 10:18:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatRouge673/pseuds/LeChatRouge673
Summary: Written as part of a collaboration with the incomparable @slothquisitor, to whom Mara belongs (and who graciously edited Mara).





	Silver Lining

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of a collaboration with the incomparable @slothquisitor, to whom Mara belongs (and who graciously edited Mara).

_Something good comes with the bad_   
_A song's never just sad_   
_There's hope, there's a silver lining_   
_Show me my silver lining._

 

-“My Silver Lining” by First Aid Kit

* * *

 

“So, this is where the two of you met?” Thea settled back in the plush, oversized arm chair in the corner of Juice N Java, Mara’s favorite coffee shop in South Reach. Thea, Loghain, Cat, and Nathaniel had caught what Thea had sleepily declared an obscenely early flight that morning. When Cullen and Mara had met them at the airport, Loghain had left her in Mara’s care and simply said “I would caffeinate her if I were you.” The rest had gone on to the hotel, but Thea and Mara had made their way to the coffee shop.

“Yep,” Mara replied with a bright smile. “I know, I know, it’s cliché.”

“You said it, kitten, not me,” Thea gave her familiar half smile. “But yes: very… adorable. And I assume you accidentally picked up each other’s coffee?”

Mara nodded. “Of course. Isn’t that always how it happens in those ridiculous romance movies? Although, I have to say, it was a little less romantic than they make it look: he took one sip of my drink and looked as though he’d been poked with a cattle prod.”

Thea actually laughed at that. She adored Mara, which is why she had agreed, albeit somewhat against her will, to come support South Reach High School’s spring variety show. “He has never been quite the coffee drinker that we have, Mar. I am honestly a bit surprised he survived: I’ve seen the way you order coffee. Even I’m impressed.”

“Thank you,” she laughed, taking another sip. “Coming from you, that is definitely a compliment.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Thea agreed. “And I appreciate you bringing me here. I don’t think I was in _quite_ as bad a shape as my husband made me out to be, but…”  
  
I don’t know,” Mara teased. “You were looking pretty homicidal there. We’re just lucky I got to you before any of the kids did.”

Thea froze, her cup halfway to her lips. “Kids?”

“You know, people younger and more energetic than we are?” Mara raised an eyebrow. “I mentioned you were coming tonight. They want to meet you.”

“No, they don’t.”

“Oh they so do,” Mara insisted. “They did the same thing to Cullen. Prepare yourself to be inundated with personal questions.”

Thea drained the rest of her coffee, some small part of her praying that the extra caffeine would kill her, but apparently no such luck. She stood and ordered another from the counter, then sat back down with a sigh of resignation. “Is it too late to just write you a check? I will seriously write you a check, right now. Just please don’t make me talk to teenagers.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “I promise they are not _that_ bad. Really though, teenagers get a bad rap. Give them a chance, they might surprise you.”

“Yeah… no.” Thea replied flatly. “Don’t get me wrong, Mar, I am so, so glad that you love your job, and I am thrilled that you care so much about these kids, because Maker knows they need people like you in their life. I just… I’ve never done well with them, I suppose. There is a reason I never became a teacher.”

“I admit, I kind of wondered,” Mara studied her intently for a moment, and Thea could tell she was trying to decide if she wanted to ask her something. “Your degrees are in history, right?”

Thea managed to keep her sigh internal. “They are. University of Denerim for undergrad and then University of Ostwick for grad school. I had intended to keep going, but life happened.”

“So you already know what I’m going to ask,” Mara gave a small smile.

“I can guess,” Thea shrugged. “Why am I helping to run the largest shipping empire in southern Thedas instead of off somewhere with my ruins and books?”

The other woman nodded. “Yep. I mean, if that’s ok. I realize it may be a sensitive subject,” she brushed a strand of blonde hair over her ear. “I asked Cullen about it once, if we’re being honest. He didn’t really have an answer for me.”

“Probably because we never really talked about it,” Thea took a sip of her drink, trying to organize her thoughts. “By the time he met me, I was already working for my aunt and uncle at Seawolf and Steed. I think he was aware that my education was elsewhere, but it never really came up.” She leaned back, staring into her coffee.

“I have known nearly my entire life what would be expected of me,” Thea finally replied. “Had I decided to leave the family business and keep pursuing history, I know Bryce and Eleanor would have supported me. That’s just the kind of people they were. But I also knew I would never be able to live with myself. I was not going to turn my back on the people who raised me, or the cousin who was more like my sister, especially after my aunt and uncle were murdered. And no, before you ask, their death was not what precipitated my return: I had already come home several years earlier, right after I finished the program at Ostwick. At the time I… I had added incentive, to come back to Denerim.”

“Loghain?” Mara asked gently.

Thea nodded. “Yes. Of course, no one else knew at the time except for Nora. Ven was pretty damn sure, but she didn’t know for certain until after it had ended. Still, I was in love with him. Coming home to work for Bryce and Eleanor did not seem like such a hardship, especially since it also meant coming back to him. Of course,” she gave a short breath of wry laughter, “We both know how that ended up.”

“It worked out in the end,” Mara corrected, pointing to the ring on Thea’s left hand, which moved almost automatically to the golden wyvern locket she still wore every single day.

“Yes,” she smiled, almost to herself, “I suppose it did at that. And here you are, planning a wedding yourself. How is that going? Did you ever work out that mess with the florist?”

“Finally, thank the Maker,” Mara sunk back in her own chair. “Actually, to be honest, I let Mia handle that one: apparently the florist was frustrated by my request for ‘pretty flowers.’ I trust Mia’s judgement.”

“That is exactly the sort of thing she is good at,” Thea agreed.

“Masterful job changing the subject, by the way,” Mara grinned.

“What can I say,” Thea laughed softly, “I have a gift for it. And in my defense, I really am interested in the wedding plans. Just because I gave it a hard pass does not mean I do not love hearing about other people’s plans.”

“Fair enough,” Mara conceded, still smiling slightly. “Although, while I’m asking invasive questions… mind if I ask another?”

Thea quirked an eyebrow in her friend’s direction. “Sure. Go for it.”

“You have way more tattoos than I realized.”

A burst of laughter escaped Thea’s chest before she could stop herself. “That’s not a question, kitten, but you are not wrong.”

“You ok?” Mara looked at her askance.

Thea wiped a tear of mirth away from her eye. “Yes, that’s just… that’s not what I was expecting. When people get nosy, they usually want to ask me about…” She shrugged. “It also occurs to me this is the first time you’ve seen most of them. So sure: what do you want to know?”

“Um…” Mara studied her briefly, biting her lower lip before pointing at Thea’s wrists. “Those ones.”

“Good choice,” Thea smiled. “Ok, so, right wrist, the arrows and wildflowers? I got that one for Cat and Nathaniel. I also have the constellation of the Great Bear between my shoulder blades, and Nate has the matching one on his back. The left wrist,” she paused and set her cup down before running her thumb over the design, “the wyvern sigil of Gwaren. Loghain’s home. I had this one done,” she paused, the memory still difficult even now, “I had this one done the day he underwent the joining. I added the stars,” she gestured to a delicate arc over the wyvern rampant, “After our wedding in Firstfall, when we came back from the mountains. I also have a rose for Anora on my left ankle, and the compass rose from one of Loghain’s favorite maps on my left shoulder.”

“And the serpent on your right ankle is for Dorian, right?” Mara peered closer and Thea obligingly turned her ankle out.

“Yes, although I’m still trying to puzzle out what I want to have done for Bull,” Thea huffed in frustration. “He has been no help at all: just laughs and tells me it does not count if I do not come up with it myself. There are three bees on my right hip, for Sera, obviously, and there is a griffin feather right there,” she pointed to the side of her right foot, “for Thom. _That_ one hurt like a bitch. Lots of bones in the foot, as it turns out. Did not think that one through.”

“Eurgh, I’ll bet,” Mara winced slightly. “Still, they’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Thea allowed herself a smile. “I rather think so, even if it does make me a bit unconventional in the boardroom.”

“At least they give people something interesting to look at?”

Thea stood up and set a hand on her hip in mock indignation. “Hey! My powerpoint presentations are plenty engrossing! It is not my fault that Cat tends to schedule meetings after lunch. How am I supposed to compete with a room full of people about to slip into a food coma?”

Mara laughed, following Thea as they stepped out into the brisk air of a spring day in South Reach. “Sounds a lot like students after lunch. Come on, we’d better head towards the school. I need to be there early to help set up. Oh, and fair warning, the kids will probably ask about them too.”

Thea gave another long groan she was not entirely sure she meant.

“You sure I can’t just write you a check?”

 


End file.
